Abortion pill freeze extended as KS, MO sue
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The U.S. Supreme Court this week extended a freeze on new restrictions on Mifepristone, allowing the widely used abortion pill to continue mail prescriptions.
Why it matters: The extension, which runs through Thursday, provides a reprieve for pharmacies, telehealth companies and clinicians caught up in the latest legal tussle over the pill, including providers across the Kansas City metro.
Stunning stats: Kansas clinics handled more than 19,800 abortions in 2024, three-quarters of them for patients who traveled in from other states, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Roughly 14,300 used mifepristone.
- About 3,760 of those out-of-state patients came from Missouri, second only to Texas.
Driving the news: Justice Samuel Alito extended a stay he granted last week after drugmakers Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro asked the court to restore access to mifepristone through telehealth prescriptions and mail delivery.
- Anti-abortion advocates have been calling for a rollback of a Biden administration policy that expanded access to Mifepristone and removed a requirement that patients see a provider in person before getting the medication.
- The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, earlier this month, sided with Louisiana in a case challenging the Biden administration's rules.
Zoom in: A separate, parallel lawsuit led by Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, with Kansas and Idaho as co-plaintiffs, is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. It asks the federal government to reinstate the older, stricter rules nationwide.
- Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) in March introduced a bill that would strip mifepristone of its FDA approval, and in April asked acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to investigate Danco.
State of play: Kansas allows abortion up to 22 weeks, and Planned Parenthood Great Plains runs clinics in Overland Park, KCK, Wichita and Pittsburg, all of which offer medication abortion.
- In Missouri, voters approved Amendment 3 in November 2024 to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution, but medication abortion is still blocked while state courts decide which pre-existing regulations survive.
- That means Missouri patients seeking the pill currently rely on Kansas clinics or on telehealth providers shipping from out of state.
What's next: Come Thursday, Justice Alito could extend the stay again, refer the case to the full court, or let it lapse, which would reinstate the 5th Circuit's in-person requirement nationwide.